Noting his 2-mile split of 12:56—an average of 6:28 per mile—first-time Boston Marathoner Norm Peterson today told himself that he is virtually certain he has a big personal-record marathon time locked up.

"Dude, I am flying," Peterson, 26, told himself as he breezed past the 2-mile marker along the course. "This feels great!"

Peterson qualified for Boston with a 3:01 marathon last fall—his current PR. That amounts to an average 6 minutes 55 seconds per mile.

At his current pace, Peterson reckoned, he is en route to a sub-2:50 finish.

The Chicago native was reportedly nervous before today's start, wondering if he could possibly run under 3 hours on the historic course. With his 2-mile split, those concerns appear to have evaporated.

"Maybe I'm fitter than I realized," thought Peterson, his confidence building with each footfall. "I keep this up and maybe I could even run negative splits, do a 2:45 or something."

"This is awesome!" he added to himself, grinning slightly.

As recently as a few minutes ago, Peterson was reportedly mulling whether to increase his pace a bit to "put some time in the bank."

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DumbRunner.com is a website for runners who enjoy laughter and pie, from longtime writer and marathoner Mark Remy. Dumb Runner offers humor, insight, and 100% B.S.-free advice for runners of all abilities.